Dennis Haarsager's rolling environmental scan for electronic media. "Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us." --Jerry Garcia "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." --Bob Seger

Twitter @haarsager

Wednesday, 28 September 2005

BitTorrent's Grab at Respectability

Heather Green writes: "BitTorrent, the maker of popular file-sharing software used to distribute movies, music, and games both legally and illegally, is going commercial. The company has raised $8.75 million in venture capital from Menlo Park (Calif.)-based Doll Capital Management and plans to create a marketplace for dispensing digital goods. ...¶... BitTorrent says it plans to adapt. It's adding RSS and podcasting to its marketplace. And it's wooing content holders with the efficiencies of using its distribution software to combat piracy. "We want to provide content services that will be the next generation of content distribution," says David Chao, Doll Capital's co-founder and managing general partner. And with file sharing continuing to soar, Hollywood might not be able to ignore BitTorrent's bid to go commercial." Link: BusinessWeek.